Episode 2 - Meet the Romans! Part 1

Yeah.

This episode will introduce the Romans. I am aware that not all of you, listening, will be familiar with Roman jargon. You may have no idea what I meant if I said To face the oncoming danger, the two consuls, elected by the Committee Centuriata, made their way to Campania. Each consul had an army of consular size, made up of the usual Astarte, Principes, Triaria, and Equites. On the other hand, you may have understood perfectly what I just said, in which case, consider this episode a recap.

Not something to be treated lightly though. Knowing the detailed troop movements and strategy that led to the destruction of Varro's forces at Canai is nothing without knowing the basics. So let's get into it, shall we? In fact, uh no, we shall not. This was my original intention. But as I sit here typing away, it appears my little introduction to Rome has turned into a monster episode. Much, much longer than expected. So this is what we shall do.

This week, in part one, we shall look at the Roman Constitution, the people's assemblies, the magistrates and the Senate. We shall follow this up next week by looking at the Roman military and Roman religion before going over early Roman history up to the First Punic War in Part three. Before finally getting to Carthage in episode five. So, now we shall get into it.

Having thrown out the kings, supposedly, in five oh nine BC, Rome was a republic. SPQR Sonatus Populus Quere Romanus The Senate and the People of Rome Those who follow our Learning Latin series will soon be able to translate that. But that's neither here nor there. There are essentially three parts of the Roman Constitution the Senate, the people, and the magistrates, and These three powers all balanced each other out, so no one power could gain complete control.

Needless to say, this idea has survived into the modern world. The first three articles of the American Constitution set out the balance of power between the executive branch of government, the president, the legislative branch Congress and the judicial branch. The Supreme Court

We shall start with the people. The people were in theory sovereign. Power came from the people. Only the people could invest power into the magistrates. Only the people could pass laws. How did the people do this? They did not elect representatives to vote on laws, as we do in the British Parliament, or the American Congress. They did not vote on laws where one person had one vote, as happened in Athens. Instead, they voted in groups in assemblies, presided over by magistrates.

Of which there were four, but the Committa Curiata, the Committa Centuriata, the Committa Tributa, and the Conquillium Plebis. The Comita Curiata was a relic from the days of the monarchy, and was irrelevant to what we shall be looking at, so it shall not be mentioned any more.

The Committee was an assembly which voted in centuries. There were one hundred ninety three centuries in the assembly, each having one vote regardless of how many people were in them. There were seven classes of centuries based on property qualifications. The first class was the officer class, the equites, or knights, They had eighteen centuries.

The next five classes were made up of enlisted soldiers. The first of these classes had eighty centuries. Classes two through four had twenty each, and class five had thirty. In these five classes there was a further division. Eighty five centuries were composed of the junior soldiers. aged seventeen to forty five, while the other eighty five were made up of senior soldiers aged forty six to sixty.

There were much fewer soldiers in this category than the junior category. This gave much more power to the opinions of the senior soldiers. Cicero defended the system, saying that the senior soldiers had much more to lose, and so should have a bigger say in the system. I personally suspect that this was to further skew the system in favour of the more conservative aristocracy.

The final five centuries belonged to the miscellaneous class. There were four centuries of artisans and musicians, such as trumpet players and horn blowers. And then one final century for the landless masses. The officers would vote first, then the first class, then the second class, etc, etc. The Committa Centuriata was important because it voted for the major magistrates, the consuls, the praetors, and the censors.

We'll see later what each of these officers did. It was the only institution that could declare war. It could ratify a sentence and could pass laws.

The next assembly we'll look at will be the committa tribusa. the tribal assembly. Rather than the one hundred and ninety three centuries in the Comita Centuriata, the Comita Tributa had only thirty five voting blocks, each called a tribe. The order of voting was decided by lots before each vote, so a tribe would be selected at random, vote, and then another tribe would be selected at random, and then vote, etc, etc.

Tribes were originally geographical. There were four urban tribes who lived in the city and thirty one rural tribes, although a lot of these were in the neighborhood of Rome. Originally there were only three tribes, but as Rome expanded, more were added until they reached thirty five, when new citizens were placed in already existing tribes. So Italy was essentially a patchwork of tribes.

But while many of the urban tribes would vote as they lived in the city, only the wealthy could afford to travel from the country into Rome to vote. This meant that the wealthy also effectively controlled this assembly too, and During the Italian agricultural crisis in the second century BC. Many people immigrated from the country to Rome, but still remained enrolled in the rural tribes.

It was this change in the balance of power that allowed opponents to the senatorial machine to get into office, which led to the fall of the Republic, but I digress. The committed tributar elected the lower magistrates, the curaladilais, the quaestors, and it could also pass laws. The Conquillium plebis, or plebeian council, was essentially the same as the Committa Tributar. Only it was made up of only plebs. No patricians were allowed.

The patricians were the old nobility, the traditional aristocracy who could trace back their ancestors to Romulus, who Supposedly, they originally had a monopoly on power, but by the third century BC most of these privileges had gone. Rather than being presided over by a senior magistrate such as a consul or praetor. The Concilium Plebis was presided over by a tribune of the plebs, who was also elected by the Conculum Plebis.

The plebeian Adeles were also elected by this body. As I said, I'll deal with the magistrates later. Originally, laws passed by the Conkylian plebis, plebiscite. were only applicable to plebs, but after two hundred eighty seven BC they gained the full force of law and applied to everyone. After this date, most legislation came from the council. So those were the assemblies. Now on to the magistrates.

' We'll be going over the consuls, the praetors, the censors, the ideales, the quaestors, the tribune of the plebs, the promagistrates, and of course the dictators. The consulship was the most powerful office in the Roman Republic. There were two elected each year, usually in the midsummer, to serve as consuls for the next year.

They could each veto the actions of the other, while within the limits of the Pamerium. The city boundaries The consuls were the head of government, superior to all other magistrates, with the exception of the tribunes. While subordinates, other offices were independents. The consuls oversaw the running of the government, and were responsible for executing laws.

They had the power of summons and arrest. They were the chief ambassadors of Rome. They served as chairmen of the Senate in turn for one month each, and could summon the the three commiti the Curia, the Centuriata, and the Tributer. So, in effect, they could propose laws. These civil functions would be performed by the praetor urbanus, the urban praetor, if both consuls were absent from the city.

Each consul was accompanied by twelve bodyguards, called lictors, who each carried the Fasques, or, if you prefer, the Fasci. a bundle of rods and an axe. The rods symbolized the power to scourge, while the axe showed the power to kill. Capital punishment, that is, not to go on a murder spree. The acts would not be carried within the city, to show that a citizen could not be put to death without trial.

While the consuls had this power, they were also the commanders in chief of the Roman army. A Roman military career and political career, at this stage in Rome's history, should not be separated. Next, the praiser. Confusingly, the consuls were originally called praetors, but became consuls in the mid fourth century BC, when the urban praetorship was created, initially as an equal to the consuls.

The urban praiser would relieve the consuls of their judicial function, and became the chief justice. He would have to stay in Rome though, as you can tell by his title. He could leave Rome for ten days at a time only for As Rome became increasingly involved with the outside world, a second protoship was created in two hundred forty six BC, the Prota Peregrinus.

The peregrini were the Roman names for non citizen subjects, if you will. In the imperial period the peregrini were basically the provincials, and Anyway, the Praetor Peregrineus. This office will deal with judicial matters between the Romans and foreigners. In two hundred twenty seven BC. Two additional praetors were added to govern Sicily and Sardinia, and in two hundred ninety seven another two praetorships were created to govern the two Spains, bringing the number to six.

Each praetor had six lictors, half that of a consul. They could each veto the other and were bound by the veto of a consul. A praetor and a consul could also be excused from their usual duties and given a special assignment by the Senate. This would occur frequently during the Punic Wars.

Now to examine the sentence. The censorship was an office held by two people elected by the Committer Curia, later the Committee, once every five years. They originally held the office for the whole five years, but soon this was reduced to eighteen months. The censors were elected by those that had previously been a consul. While it had no formal power, it was the most prestigious office. They had three basic functions. The first, and most important, was to conduct the census.

The registering of citizens and their property, and deciding who qualified as a senator and an equestrian. Indeed, the patricians created this office to remove these powers from the consulship, so they could find it easier to maintain their domination. They also had a somewhat vague instruction to protect public morals, and they had significant control of state finance. Being able to construct building projects. which would be contracted out to wealthy individuals or equestrian syndicates.

The Via Appia, from Rome into Campania, was constructed by Appius Claudius, during his censorship. And the via Flaminia to the Po Valley was constructed by Gaius Flaminius during his This is most certainly not the last time we will be dealing with Gaius Flaminius. C Lake Trozumini. We shall now move on to the Adylae. There were two types of adeolas churile and plebeian, and there were two of each type.

The plebeianidelees were an older institution, dating back to the secession of the plebs, and were originally assistants to the tribunes. They later kept guard of the decrees of the Senate and of the plebeian council, and would fulfil the duties of the censors if they were unable to fulfil them. In three sixty seven BC, an extra day of games was added to the calendar, but the Adealaes refused to pay for it.

The patricians offered to pay, if they had access to the Adelai ship, and thus the Curile Adeles were born. While they each had slightly differing functions, the Publian Adeles would preside over solely plebeian games, while some would be dealt with exclusively by the Cural Adelais, And they were each elected by different assemblies, the plebeian by the Plebeian Council, and the Curile by the Commitatribusa, and the Curile Delays were more prestigious. They essentially became the same office.

They would take care of the city physically, make sure that the city was well supplied, issued economic edicts, and paid for games. After the Second Punic War, these displays would become a highly extravagant. But that is another story. The next office to look at is the Quaestor, elected by the Committee Tribut. Originally appointed by the Consul to investigate criminal matters, the Quaestorship essentially became an elected office and the minimum requirement to be a senator.

By about four hundred twenty BC there were four quaesters, but by two hundred sixty seven that number had been upped to ten. To put it simply, they were finance officers. Some supervised the treasury in Rome, while others were attached to the generals and governors in the provinces, and took care of military expenditure. Nice and simple.

We'll now look at the Tribunate. Along with the plebeian adultery and the plebeian council, the tribunate was created because of the secession of the plebs, supposedly in four hundred ninety four BC. Elected by the plebeian council, they were the plebeian weapon against the patrician consulate. They were sacrosanct, inviolable, They could not be interfered with. They could even order capital punishment against those who were interfering with their actions.

Technically speaking, as they were elected by the plebeian council rather than an assembly, they were not magistrates and had no official power of the Roman people. However, they could impose their sacrosanctity onto other things. Not vetoing a bill, but stopping, say, the acts of reading a bill. This sounds a bit confusing, but in effect gave the tribunes the power to veto every single act of government, and they could not be vetoed themselves, unless by another tribune.

As I have just said, it wasn't technically a veto, but it's just easier to call it a veto. And so that is what I shall call it. By our period, the tribune would be able to propose laws to the plebeian council, But they were the defenders of civil liberties. If a magistrate took action against a citizen, they could shout Egote proco. I challenge you, which appealed the magistrate's action or decision to the tribune.

The tribune had to be present to veto an action, and was only sacrosanct within the city of Rome. the tribune had to be a plebeian. There were originally two, but by four hundred forty nine BC that number had increased to ten. Next, the pro magistrate. There were several different pro magistrates, the proquester, the pro praetor, and the pro constable. Basically, a pro magistrate acted in place of a normal magistrate. They had equal power, though were subordinate to the current magistrate.

Were attended by the same number of lictors. They had usually previously held the office in question, but this wasn't necessary. It was a clever legal innovation that allowed commanders to hold continued commands without violating the principle of annual magistrates, a keystone of the Roman Republican system. It came into being during the Samnite Wars and was often used during the Second Punic War.

Eventually, the pro magistrates commanding the theatres of war became governors. Pro magistratorial power was granted by the Senate, and usually lasted a single year. Though in special circumstances longer periods in office were given, such as Scipio Africanus's extended command in Spain.

Finally, with regard to the magistrates, we move on to the dictators. Firstly, I'm sure you're asking yourself why I'm saying dictator rather than dictator. This is for several reasons. Such as that is the actual pronunciation. It is a long A rather than a short A. And it also avoids baggage that the word dictator has attached to it. The dictatorship is a perfectly constitutional office, unlike its modern relative. So what was the dictatorship?

In an emergency, sometimes singular action is needed, rather than the complex and a painfully slow governance system that accompanies democracy. If there was an emergency, the Senate could authorise the consuls to appoint a man who had previously been consul to be dictator, who would take the place of the two consuls for six months. Until he finished his task. The rule that the man must have already been a consul was sometimes ignored.

The consul should make the proposal in Rome, if he could, but if not, he made the proposal in camp. But the proposal had to be made in Italy. It could not take place in the provinces. This replacement of the consuls is seen by the number of lictors the dictator had. Rather than the twelve of the consul, the dictator had twenty four. The dictator was the only magistrate immune to the tribune's veto.

He ruled by decree and had both executive and military functions, which could be used depending on the nature of the crisis. He also appointed a deputy dictator. THE MAGISTER EQITUM THE Master of the Hall. The master of the horse was of comparative rank to the praetor, but was the representative of the dictator in his absence, and could thus exercise the same power. The master of the horse would automatically resign when the dictator ended his dictatorship.

Originally, the dictato was called Magister Popului, the Master of the People. And so would have commanded the infantry in battle while the master of the horse commanded the cavalry. I find that quite interesting. Anyway, that is enough for the magistrates. We'll finish off today by looking at the Senate.

Now before I went in depth into Roman history, I mistakenly believed that the Senate was a legislative assembly, very similar to modern ones. I was mistaken. The Senate is in fact completely powerless. It cannot make laws. It has no technical authority. The Senate was an advisory council to the king, and later the consul. This reflects its membership. Qualification to the Senate was to have been a quaester, and then selected by the censor. So the Senate is a body of ex magistrates.

The Latin word senatus derives from the word senix, which means old man. What the Senate lacked in de jure power, it more than made up for in de facto gravita. Its members were the magistrates who ran the state, and so the senators were the most qualified and respected people to deal with politics. People would listen to the Senate. It became practice for the magistrates to ask the Senate for advice on issues, and once they had asked it for advice they would listen to the Senate.

There are several reasons why they obeyed the Senate but There is the already mentioned reason that the senators were the most qualified people to deal with the issue. And it must be remembered that the magistrates would join the Senate and spend far longer as a senator than as a magistrate. He could ignore the Senate. But then he would be marginalized once his term was up. So the Senate's decisions were practically law, even though it wasn't a legislative assembly.

The major sphere where the Senate's expertise was most definitely listened to was foreign policy. As foreign policy becomes the overriding issue during the period we shall be studying, we'll see the Senate's power grow. The Senate was made up of around three hundred senators, who could be divided by their seniority, the ex censors and ex consuls being the most senior and speaking first in debate.

There would be a magistrate presiding over the meeting, usually a consul who would call the Senate, state his proposal, and then give it to the Senate for discussion. All members of the Senate would state their opinion in a grand debate, and then they would vote. A vote must take place in that session. And so if a senator opposed the measure, and when it was his turn to give his opinion, he could talk for the rest of the day, so there would be no time for a vote.

I am of course talking about the filibuster, something still present in modern politics. As with modern filibusters, what was said did not have to be relevant to the debate at all. One thinks of US Senator Al D'Amato, who in one filibuster read the phone book for the district of Columbia. But back to the Roman Senate.

They were not paid, so had to be wealthy. There were regulations on how you could make their money. The respectable thing for senators to be involved with was land and agriculture. Land was natural. Land was old. Land was good and The sea was unnatural, and naval trade was new. The sea was bad. This worldview is represented in the Roman preference for land warfare over sea warfare. It also shows the Roman idea of Mos Maiorum, the ways of our ancestors.

The Romans believed things were better in the past, and things were deteriorating constantly. In the past was the age of gold, the age of silver, the age of bronze, and the age of heroes. All superior to the current age. The mindset is crucial to understanding Roman history. Politicians, notably Augustus, would claim that they were reviving old traditions rather than making reforms. The Roman world for revolution resinova means new things.

This is completely different to the mindset of the modern West, where newness is pride. Everything is new this or new that, whether it be the advertisements of new coke or the politics of new labour. On that note, let's end this introduction to the Roman Constitution. Remember you can visit us online at the historyofpodcast.blogspot.com. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com forward slash the history of podcast.

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Through those links I will get a small proportion or whatever you spend from Amazon. It's a great way to support the show, getting things you would already be buying. When I mention this, I like to give a recommendation. So this week I'm going to recommend Food in History by Rie Tannehill. Recently, I've been fascinated by Roman food, and will be trying out some Roman recipes. This may lead to a cooking walkthrough on YouTube. Well, it's all very interesting.

Food in history looks at the role food played in history. And it's all really interesting stuff, for instance it looks at the reforms of Solon in Athens. Specifically, the one which stated only olives can be exported from Attica. And it explores the effects of this such as olive roots drawing nutrients out of the soil without fertilizing the topsoil, forcing the city to rely on food imports, which would be a huge weakness during the Peloponnesian War. So yeah, all interesting stuff.

I'd also like to thank anyone who has left an Amazon review so far. Reviews, especially the written reviews, have a huge effect on the iTunes chart. as well as being useful in letting me know what people like and don't like about the show. So thank you very, very much. Join me next time. Favourite subject.